


Bingo

by ConstellationStation



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen, I'm not gonna tag everybody but everyone prior to chap 13 is there, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 01:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20024641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstellationStation/pseuds/ConstellationStation
Summary: Robin sleeps in the most unconventional places and The Shepherds make a game out of spotting her.





	Bingo

**Author's Note:**

> no shipping here, just shenanigans.

Robin easily has the worst sleeping habits in all of The Shepherds.

When she first joined, she shared a tent with Miriel. Robin probably spent more time in that tent reading than sleeping. Miriel let her borrow whatever books she wanted and Robin was more than pleased to read through the wee hours of the night. Miriel doesn’t notice anything strange about this, probably because she is a bit of a disaster herself.

After establishing herself as a talented tactician and an invaluable asset, Chrom grants Robin her own tent. 

She still doesn’t sleep in it. 

Her personal tent becomes a smaller, less organized version of the war tent. Maps and charts decorate the canvas walls, notes are strewn all over her cot and spilling onto the floor. There’s hardly enough place to stand, much less lie down on. Frederick once took a glance on the inside of her tent and resolved to clean it up for her. This resulted in Robin angrily chasing him out with a book and complaining all the while that she can’t find anything in her tent after he “ruined her system.” Needless to say, everyone avoided her tent after that.

If one were to ask why Robin didn’t sleep, she’d tell them that there was just too much to do. She can’t remember her life before she met Chrom on that fateful day and now she seemed determined to spend every moment being productive and living life. Why waste time sleeping when she has books to read, things to learn, and strategies to think up?

There was more to it than that, of course. It wasn’t just that she liked being awake; she was afraid of being asleep. With sleep came the nightmares. Robin doesn’t remember what exactly she dreams about, but she remembers how she felt in them.

Mostly fear. 

There was the kind of fear that had the adrenaline pumping sense of urgency that makes her bolt upright in her cot and jump at every shadow. Her heart pounds frantically in her chest and any attempt at sleeping again after that will cause her body to jolt her awake before her eyes can drift shut. So she gets her sword and her tome and waits for the morning. She sits in her cot, alert and twitchy, until her eyes burn and the sky brightens.

Then there was the kind of fear that grips at her heart and settles in her head. An existential dread that whispers into her mind that everything she does is meaningless and everyone she loves is going to die. Her mind races, her heart aches, and she feels like she can't breathe. She lies in her cot with tears streaming down her face, clutching her chest and panting heavily. Sleep is tempting after these kinds of nightmares. When she closes her eyes, she can almost see faces, hear voices. They tease at just the edges of her awareness. So she drifts off, only to awaken crying mere moments later. She spends the rest of the night wiping her tears and controlling her breathing.

Robin decides then that sleeping is counterproductive and her night time is better spent keeping busy. However, she is still human and human beings need sleep in order to function properly (so do taguels and manaketes but that's besides the point). Thus, Robin compromises with her body by picking a nice place to sleep then passing out until she has the energy to start moving again. These bouts of unconsciousness are often dreamless and she's able to act like a normal person for several hours after she wakes.

Robin's standards for what counts as "a nice place to sleep" are extremely low.

The first requirement is that the place is stable. She should be able to sleep with little danger of falling off or having her sleeping place collapse on her. The second requirement is that it should be out of the way so nobody steps on her by mistake.

Both these standards are set by experience. 

The first because of that time Robin slept on a comfy looking branch only for her to fall off when she shifted in her sleep. The second because of that time she slept in the barracks and was rudely awoken when Sumia tripped on her. One would think that the esteemed grandmaster of The Shepherds would have more common sense but maybe sleep deprivation just does that to people.

It takes a while for The Shepherds to get used to Robin's arbitrary sleeping arrangements.

Chrom had been looking for Robin all over the camp for a while now and he was beginning to feel frustrated. He had asked several people already about their tactician's whereabouts and while most claimed not to have seen her, Cordelia and Frederick, easily the most trustworthy soldiers, swears she should be in the war tent. 

Chrom barges in the war tent, for the second time that day, and looks around. It was exactly the same as when he entered the first time. The maps and ledgers spread on the table was indeed a sign that Robin was there, but there was no one in sight.

Robin wasn't anywhere to be found in the rest of the camp either. Chrom checked everywhere: her tent, the mess tent, the armory, even the training grounds. He's worried at first that maybe she had been captured somehow. Stahl, who was stationed at the camp's entrance assures him that Robin hadn't left and Sumia does a quick sweep of the perimeter and reports that neither Robin nor any suspicious characters were lurking outside their camp. This does little to abate his fears as Robin is still very much unaccounted for. Chrom asks Gaius, who tells him that he didn't see her leave the war tent since she entered it earlier that day, and so Chrom stomps his way back to where he started.

The war tent is in the same state as he left it still, and he kicks the table in frustration.

Much to his surprise, the table lets out a cry of alarm.

He kneels down to look under the table and finds Robin clutching the top of her head in pain. "What in Naga's name are you doing down there? I was looking all over for you!"

Robin squints at him through bleary eyes and crawls out from under the table. Chrom offers her his hand and helps her up, "when I told you before that there are better places to sleep than on the ground," he makes eye contact to emphasize his point, "I really meant it."

"And I beg to differ," she retorts, stretching. Chrom doubts her position was comfortable despite her words.

"So," Robin smooths her rumpled clothes then smiles up at him, "you were looking for me?"

"Right," he clears his throat. "I wanted to talk tactics, actually. The Shepherds are growing in numbers but it isn't very efficient for us to charge at every skirmish full force. I wanted to hear your thoughts on how we divide our team."

Robin suddenly drops to the floor as she gathers some papers she left under the table, "I have some notes that we could use for that."

She gets up just as quickly and Chrom winces as she bumps her head on the table again. It didn't seem to bother her. Robin sweeps the contents of the table to the side and spreads her notes. "Now where do we begin…"

Some of the initial reactions includes fury.

Robin wakes up to screaming and opens her eyes to see the pointy end of a parasol dangerously close to her face.

"Good morning, Maribelle," she greets nonchalantly as she nudges the parasol out of the way with her forearm. 

Maribelle points it back at her face. "Don't you 'good morning' me, you scoundrel!" She seethes, "have you no dignity, have you no shame?!"

"I'd like to think I have a healthy respect for myself."

"Then why," she pauses at that word, "are you sleeping on sacks of produce like a vagrant?!"

Robin examines her surroundings and realizes that she's in the supply tent and that the burlap sacks beneath her were likely filled with vegetables. "Whoops."

Maribelle puts her parasol away to cross her arms at huff angrily. "That's all you have to say for yourself?"

Robin slides down from her perch and opens the topmost sack to inspect its contents. "Do you think I bruised them," she asks as she holds out a potato to the noble. "They look fine… I think."

It's Maribelle's turn to defend her face. "That's not the point. Why are you sleeping here in the first place? You have your own tent!"

"Eh," Robin returns the potato sheepishly, "I was taking a walk, got tired, then I went in the nearest tent to sleep in. I didn't notice I was sleeping on potato sacks."

"You are absolutely deplorable!" Maribelle exclaims, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Others are just surprised to see her.

Donnel was starting to get used to life in a militia. He learned to get up and get dressed at a moment’s notice, to get in and out of armor quickly, and to fight back to back with just about anyone in The Shepherds. All these skills boil down to being prepared for action at all times. So when he hears a horn sound as he is strolling through the camp, his first reaction is to find the nearest weapon and run to the southwest where the alarm call came from.

All the other soldiers are kicked into a frenzy, like wasps whose nest was disturbed. Donnel clumsily avoids getting trampled by Sully’s horse as she spurs it into action. Donnel’s tent, which he shares with Ricken, is on the farside of the camp. He can already hear the cacophony of battle in the distance and resolves to join them as soon as possible. The armory is just ahead, so he decides to grab some equipment there rather than running all the way to his tent to get his own. He dodges Vaike, who comes running out of the armory screaming and waving an axe, and slips inside. 

The weapons rack in the corner was already missing many of its contents, among those gone were the lances Donnel could actually use. There was a silver lance left on the rack, but as he picks it up, he finds it rather heavy and unwieldy in his inexperienced hands. 

He moves to the cabinet to check if there were any iron or bronze lances in stock when the doors suddenly burst open, nearly hitting him in the face. The cabinet’s contents crash into him and pushes him against the floor, his pot helmet clanging as it’s knocked off his head.

Something heavy shifts on top of him and he groans in pain.

“Oh gods, I am so sorry!”

He recognizes that voice. “Robin?”

Sure enough, Donnel opens his eyes to see The Shepherds tactician roll off of him. She helps him up and hands him his pot. “Sorry again, for knocking you over.”

“Never mind that,” he tells her, trying to make sense of what happened. “What in blazes were ya doin’ hidin’ in the closet?”

“I’m not sure,” she checks her coat pockets as if it held the answer. She pulls out a yellow spellbook, “I must’ve fallen asleep.”

“In the closet?” Donnel exclaims, peeking inside. He finds an iron lance and takes it. 

Robin waves him off, “no time for that, we’ve got a situation here!”

“Right,” he wears his pot like a knight would don his helmet and follows Robin into battle.

After a while, most people are just exasperated.

Lon’qu was always wary of Robin and her shenanigans. Ironically, he only ever felt safe around her on the battlefield. Elsewhere? He’d rather not be near her at all. Granted, he’d rather not be around any woman, but Robin deserved her own category in his danger list. 

There are times, however, where interaction with her becomes unavoidable. Most of these times are because Robin herself goes to him first and refuses to let him escape. On rare occasions, Lon'qu needs something of or from her and has to approach her himself. 

Lon'qu doesn't like these times.

Now is one of those times.

He unsheaths the sword he was holding and appraises it's rough surface. He slides it back in the scabbard with a sigh. The steel sword had been badly damaged in the last battle so he reforged it using the metal from other broken swords. The repaired blade now needs to be sharpened and polished for it to be battle ready.

He couldn't do that right now though because Robin was sleeping on the grindstone.

Not even at the grindstone. One would think that if she were to grow tired after tending to her weapons, she could fall asleep on the chair, but no. Robin was sleeping on the grindstone. She was kneeling on the floor with her arms draped over the stone wheel and her cheek resting against it. Her sword was left on the ground next to her because she obviously had as much respect for her blade as she does for herself, just dropping it wherever when it was no longer in use.

"Robin!" Lon'qu calls from his spot near the entrance, "wake up!"

He sees her shift in her sleep. An eye flutters open for a split second, easy to miss, then she just folds her arms and buries her face in it so he can't see.

"I know you're awake." It was hard to tell because of her baggy cloak but Robin's breathing was certainly not as deep as it should be if she were sleeping. She was most definitely toying with him. "Get up, I need to use the grindstone."

She has the audacity to make snoring noises. 

Grumbling, Lon'qu trudges over to her and pokes her in the leg with the sheathed tip of his sword. "Up!"

Robin lifts her head and gives him a lazy smirk, "good morning."

He pokes her again. "It's past noon and you could've sheared your face off."

"But I didn't," she says, trying to bat away his sword.

"Move."

"Make me!"

Lon'qu rolls his eyes at her childishness. None of The Shepherds seem to have problems with her (save maybe for Maribelle, but she has problems with everybody without royal blood so she doesn't count), so he didn't know why Robin insisted on being particularly annoying with him. 

He grips his sword, as though to unsheath it. "Don't make me draw my blade at you."

"You wouldn't dare," she says with an easygoing confidence that makes Lon'qu want to wipe the smirk off her face. 

She had a point though, so he settles for hitting her on the head with the scabbard.

"Ow!" Robin pouts at him but slinks away from the grindstone. "Geez…"

"You asked for it," he reminds her as he starts to work on his sword.

Robin wasn't an uncommon topic of discussion at camp. Everyone had anecdotes to share about their tactician.

"One time, I caught the fair lady sleeping on the counter, much like a cat."

"I thought a criminal broke into my shop, turns out it was just Robin sleeping on my wares."

"I wasn't even done knitting those quilts and she still used them as blankets."

Lissa was just telling them that she once woke Robin up by placing a lizard on her face, making her fall out of the fence she was napping on and into the horses' trough below.

"If Bubbles was sleeping in the trough, now that would be something else." Gaius says, removing the lollipop from his mouth. "But I think the time I caught her sleeping in the rafters is more ridiculous."

"Don't you think we should do something about this?" Kellam asks, "she could really hurt herself."

Sully turns to Gaius, "Chuckles, what is this, a competition?"

His lips curl into a smirk in reply, "you want it to be?"

Lissa leans over the table, interested. "What do you have in mind?"

"Excuse me," Chrom rubs his temples, "what?"

"Robin Bingo," Lissa explains, "or Robingo, if you will."

"I won't," he retorts.

"I told you Bubbles Bingo sounds better," Gaius pipes up.

"It does not!" Lissa snaps.

Miriel hands Chrom a card. "We've listed every location Robin has ever taken repose in and distributed them randomly across cards."

"You're in on this too?" He looks at the card. It had five columns and five rows. The middle square was blank, but the rest had places written in them. Some were general, like inside a wagon, others were more specific, like the bookshelf in the war tent.

Miriel adjusts her glasses, "Methinks it makes for an intriguing and delightfully engaging study on probability. Not to mention it would be advantageous for us to be able to infer where our strategist could be in the event of an emergency."

"And everyone's playing?" He asks. It seems as though all of The Shepherds, sans Robin, of course, were in the tent. Each with their own card.

"If it helps," Panne tells him, "this is also the first I've been informed of this. You humans have unusual ways of passing the time.

Gaius hops to the center of the tent and claps to get everyone's attention. "Alright, people, here are the rules!

"If you see Bubbles sleeping in a place that's in your card, you cross that out. Cross out five boxes in a line, vertical, diagonal, or horizontal, and you get a bingo. In a normal bingo, the free space in the middle is already counted as crossed. Not in this game!" He says with a flourish as he holds up his card for a visual. "If you see Bubbles sleeping anywhere not in your card, you write it down in the free space to cross it out."

"It's in consideration for new locations and that we may add to our sample," Miriel explains.

"Anyway," Gaius continues, "first to get a bingo wins. Any questions?" 

Gregor raises a hand, "is there prize?"

"... Bragging rights?"

Gregor frowns at this, "then what is point?"

"It's for fun," Lissa whines, "isn't that enough?"

A chorus of disagreement makes her deflate.

"Gregor want cash prize!" He yells.

"Ooh ooh!" Nowi says jumping up and down. "What about candy? I bet you have candy!"

Gaius crosses his arms and turns away to hide the sweets that were visibly strapped to his person, “who told you that?”

Anna struts up to next to him to make her case, “as the sponsor of this activity, isn’t it only right for you to provide prizes? I for one would like a financial reward but I could settle for goods and services.” Her smile is catty and mischievous and oh no she has that look on her face.

Gaius cowers behind Lissa and Chrom, “hey, you guys are rich. Maybe you should sponsor?”

“Chrooom!” Lissa tugs insistently on her brother’s cape.

“If you think I’m funding this, think again,” he says snatching his cape back.

“That’s really cold, Blue.” 

“It’s for morale!” Lissa gestures to their company, “do you really want to disappoint so many people?”

Chrom glances at the crowd. 

Frederick gives him a reassuring smile. Nowi was sending puppy eyes in his direction but that was probably intended for Gaius. Anna is looking at him expectantly, with a knowing smirk on her face. Many of them were whispering amongst themselves, but no one seems to be particularly pressuring. Save of course for Gaius and Lissa nudging him from behind.

“I don’t think anyone else would be particularly disappointed,” he tells them smugly. 

Lissa stomps on his foot.

As the royal siblings get into a scuffle, Anna gets everyone’s attention.

“Fear not, ladies and gentlemen,” she says, her voice booming. “I know everyone wants some incentive for this little game but our Commander has better things to allocate the funds to. I understand completely! Fortunately, I have a solution to propose.

“How about we make it a wager? If you want to participate, you have to bet something, anything. It can be gold, a trinket, whatever you have. The winner takes all!” 

This gets the whole tent buzzing with conversation. Anna puts her hands on her hips, pleased with herself.

“You really just want to earn, don’t you?” Chrom tells the merchant.

“Of course!” Anna says shamelessly, then she lowers her voice in a conspiratorial whisper, “even if I don’t win, this game will increase demand in writing materials. Usually my only market are scribes and scholars but now everyone’s going to need a quill!”

“So this is why Robin consults you for finances.”

“I have a question,” Cordelia raises her hand and her voice over the clamor. “Won’t someone need to be in charge of the bets? This game might need a facilitator.”

“Good idea,” Chrom says, “Are you volunteering? You’re very dependable.”

Cordelia blushes furiously and waves her hands, “Y-you think so? I mean, I don’t think - I’m uh… Maybe someone else should- “

“I’ll do it,” Libra puts a comforting hand on her shoulder as she sinks back into her chair and buries her face in her hands. “I don’t plan on playing myself. I will make sure everyone plays fairly.”

“Thanks, Padre,” Gaius takes center stage again. “Alright, now that we’ve got the details settles, who wants to play?”

He was pleased to be met with a chorus of assent.

And thus, the game began.

It starts out fairly slow. After all, Robin only sleeps for a scant few hours a day, and in between battle preparations, marches, and skirmishes, most of The Shepherds would rather be sleeping themselves. Although they do spend more time with her than before.

Virion plays chess with her more often. Sully seeks her out whenever she needs a workout buddy. Even Ricken started to practice spellcasting with her. But if there's anyone who spent the same amount of time with Robin since the start of the game, it was Tharja. That amount of time is all day, everyday. 

Robin has since grown used to, and even fond of, her shadow. While she went casually about her day to day activities with Tharja hovering nearby, the rest of The Shepherds were uncomfortable in her stead. 

It was especially creepy when Tharja watched her sleep. Chrom once caught Tharja perched on a wagon, smiling to herself while peering intently down at something inside. 

"What's up?" He asks as he approaches her. Tharja hasn't actually hurt anyone yet, the hexes she cast on some of their allies were relatively harmless, but it was never a bad idea to check on her. He looks inside the wagon and finds Robin curled up on her side in a pile of hay, straws of it clung to her hair and clothes.

"Robin fell asleep here about two hours ago," Tharja croons, sending a shiver down his spine. "Isn't she just precious?"

Chrom hurriedly reaches down and shakes Robin's shoulder.

She stirs a bit, but opens her eyes as he shakes her more urgently. She rolls over, effectively covering herself in more hay, and stretches leisurely. "Chrom?"

He chuckles despite himself as he brushes hay off her head.

"Did you need me for something?" Robin asks, sitting up.

He tilts his head subtly in Tharja's direction. Robin follows. 

"Hi, Tharja."

"Good morning, Robin," Tharja smiles pleasantly, as if staring at her for two or more hours was completely normal. "Did you sleep well? You only shifted four times, so I take it you didn't have any nightmares."

"Yep," Robin replies just as casually, albeit still sleepily, "I didn't dream at all, I think. How long was I out."

"About two hours."

Chrom interrupts them before more could be said, "Robin, can we talk?"

"Sure thing." Chrom helps her off the wagon and they look for somewhere more secluded to speak. Robin shoos Tharja away, and while the dark mage glared daggers into him, she obeys and leaves them alone.

"Do you just let her follow you around… and watch you? While you sleep?!" Chrom exclaims.

"Yeah, it was really weird at first." She at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Can't you get her to stop?"

"I could, actually. She stopped the first time I asked her." Robin explains, gesturing with her hands as if to tell him bear with me. "But Tharja acting like a normal person was more unsettling than Tharja acting like a normal Tharja. She kinda tries too hard, you know?"

He slaps his palm to his forehead in exasperation, "no, I don't know. You don't feel unsafe around her?"

"Not at all. In fact," she drops her voice in a whisper, "her presence drives Lissa away."

He jokingly shoves her, but joins her in laughter.

Later, when he's alone in his tent, he crosses out an item on his card.

Considering Tharja actively stalked Robin, it was a wonder she hadn't gotten a bingo yet. The mystery is solved one afternoon in the mess tent.

Stahl was seated with Libra, Olivia, and Gaius, tapping his cheek with the feathery end of his quill and his bingo card in front of him. There were several marks on his card, but none of them were on the same line.

"Have any of you ever seen Robin sleep by a well?" He asks, putting his quill down.

"It doesn't count if you didn't see her yourself," Gaius tells him.

"Even if it did," a voice cuts in and they turn around to see Tharja sauntering towards them, "Robin hasn't been anywhere near wells in the past week."

"What brings you here, Sunshine?" Gaius eyes her as he pops hard candy in his mouth.

"This," she says, bringing out her card with a flourish. She hands it to Libra. "I believe this will be enough to win me this session's rewards."

His eyebrows rise as he looks at the card, "this is far more than enough. You've filled the whole card!"

"Was that not the objective?" She narrows her eyes threateningly.

"Um, not really," Olivia puts in meekly. She gets the card from Libra as a visual aid as she explains. "You only need to complete a line to get a bingo. Like this…" She traces the possible lines with a finger.

"Impossible…" Tharja hisses under her breath.

Gaius cackles, nearly spitting out his candy, "If you paid a quarter of the attention you give Bubbles to me when I was explaining the rules, you could've bingoed ages ago!"

"Give me that!" She snatches her card from Olivia, making the dancer recoil with a squeak. She slams the card down in front of Libra. "I still get the prize, right?"

He holds his hands up placatingly but accepts the card. "Calm yourself, it was just a misunderstanding. Let us get your reward, shall we?"

Libra leaves to get the prizes while Tharja follows, grumbling.

Stahl slides his card away from him, "there goes that session."

Olivia sighs as she surrenders her own card, "and I was so close, too…"

"Don't worry about it, Babe," Gaius hands her some candy and pops another in his mouth. "There's always next time."

The game carries on, and on, and on. Robin kept up her poor sleeping habits whether on campaigns or in the castle and The Shepherds kept up their game. They were even eager to get any new comers in on it.

Cherche frowns at her card as Lissa explains the rules. "Does Robin know you're doing this?"

"Of course, she does!" Lissa exclaims in the scandalized tone of someone falsely accused of crime.

"Just don't show her your card or she'll start messing with you," Vaike tells Cherche. "Trust me, Teach learned that the hard way."

Robin will certainly start messing with them if she sees their card. Whether she tips the scales for or against them however, depends on the person.

Leaf litter crunches under Olivia's feet with every step. She spins her body and twirls the steel sword in her hands, her sash trailing behind her arms and billowing from the movement. As she nears the conclusion of her dance, she braces herself for her finale, narrating in her head.

"Olivia is about to attempt her most daring move yet!" She thinks to herself excitedly, taking her position at the edge of the forest clearing she practiced in. "This is choreography never before seen on stage, folks! Few have the grace of a dancer and the ferocity of a warrior to pull this off!"

She breaks into a run, her sword swinging dangerously beside her. "Here goes!" She says out loud and tucks her arms, and her weapon, in as she leaps, twisting her body in mid air. She brings her arms out again as she spins. Cold steel slicing the wind around her. She holds the blade away from her as she lands, immediately dropping into a roll and springing back up in a fluid motion.

"And she nails the landing!" She cries, striking a pose, "the crowd goes wild!"

To her horror, she actually has an audience.

"That was amazing!" Robin applauds.

Olivia screams, walking backwards and tripping over, nearly stabbing herself in the process.

Robin is at her side in seconds. "Gods, are you okay? I didn't mean to startle you."

Olivia accepts help in standing up, but her face is flushed in embarrassment. "How long were you watching me?"

"I didn't get to see the entire dance…" Robin shrugs as if that was supposed to make her feel better, "but I was looking for you, and I figured I shouldn't distract you while you were dancing, so I just watched you for a while."

Olivia covers her face with her hands and groans. Robin stands there awkwardly while she continues to make noises of displeasure.

When she's finished, Robin hands her back her sword and she sheathes it. "You said you were looking for me?"

"Right," Robin says, “you play Robin Bingo, right?”

“Errr…” Olivia is unsure how to answer that.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Robin gives her a reassuring smile. “It’s just that I wanna help you save up for your theater and I thought maybe I could do that by helping you win this one.”

“But isn’t this cheating?”

“Only if we get caught,” Robin winks.

“Well… Virion did bet an expensive looking bracelet,” Olivia hums thoughtfully.

“Is that an affirmative I hear?” Robin drawls, eyes sparkling.

“Maybe,” Olivia responds just as cheekily.

“Alright then, let me see your card.”

With how much entertainment The Shepherds are getting from Robin’s bad sleeping habits, it’s easy to forget how problematic they are in the first place.

“Chrom! Chrom, I got it!” 

Chrom wakes up and peers up at Robin’s shadowy profile. It’s dark in his tent and he can hear crickets chirping outside. “Robin? It’s the middle of the night…”

“I know, I’m sorry, but I know how we can deal with the Valm threat and I needed to tell you immediately so I can get started on-”

“Woah, slow down there,” Chrom waves her off, sitting up in his cot.

“Right…” Ley lines start glowing around her and Robin lights up the candles on his desk with a small tongue of flame.  
Chrom rubs the sleep out of his eyes as Robin organizes her thoughts and the papers she brought with her. 

“Okay, okay, here goes,” She starts off, spreading a map on the table with jittery fingers. “So the Valmese are invading through Ferox’s ports, yes? We can go on the defensive and fortify the ports against their attacks, but this leaves us at a disadvantage. For one, we’re letting Valm set the pace of the war. For another, since they brought the battle to us, we’re the ones who deal with collateral damage.”

Chrom’s gaze trails up from where she’s tracing lines on the map to her face. The contrast between shadows and candlelight emphasized the dark circles under her eyes. “Hey, Robin?”

She hums but otherwise ignores him, “Ferox’s naval forces are no match for Valm by themselves and Ylisse has no navy to speak of. But you know who does?”

He opens his mouth but Robin talks over him before he can speak. “I know you won’t like this but hear me out. Plegia!”

“Robin, just wait a moment!”

“No, listen!” she insists. He sighs heavily as she continues. “I know they’re recovering from the same war we are, but as a coastal nation they must have a navy. One that they didn’t have to use against us, so it should still be intact.”

“Are you done?” he asks, pushing down his distaste for Plegia to focus on a more immediate problem.

“I am now ready to entertain questions,” she tells him.

“When was the last time you slept?”

“Not those questions.”

“Robin, I’m serious,” Chrom says, getting up from his cot to stand before her. 

She is the one to let out a deep sigh this time as she hands him a sheaf of papers. They’re a mess of notes and Chrom probably wouldn’t be able to read it if he wasn’t so familiar with her scribbles. 

“Have you been working on this all day?” He asks her.

“Since yesterday, I think?” She mumbles, “it was also dark when I started.”

“You should take a break,” he tells her, “even as tactician, you’re doing more than enough already. Sleep for the night.”

Robin shakes her head. “I still have to draft the proposal for Plegia, so we can iron down all the details for the meeting tomorrow. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home. There’s still Little Lucina to think about.”

Chrom rubs his temples, “can’t believe you’d pull that card on me…” he mutters. 

She crosses her arms over her chest as if in victory, but Chrom wasn’t having that.

“I’ll draft the proposals, you get some rest so you’re more coherent for the meeting.”

Robin opens her mouth to protest but he presses on. “It’s my duty as Exalt to handle foreign relations.”

“But you don’t like Exalt duties,” she narrows her eyes, “or paper work.”

“And you don’t like sleeping, apparently, so we’re even.”

They stare each other down for a while. Chrom notes how bloodshot her eyes are. Eventually, he leaves no room for disagreement by pulling out a chair and a blank piece of parchment to begin his draft. 

“See, you’re too late to stop me now.”

“Okay, fine,” Robin pouts. “But remember to emphasize that this arrangement benefits Plegia as well. Valm will be seeking to conquer them too.”

“I got it,” Chrom says, taking a quill and dipping it in the inkwell, “get some rest, alright?”

Robin mumbles something that could probably be translated as an affirmative. 

He focuses on the papers in front of him, shuffling through Robin’s notes as he considers how he’s going to start his draft. His thoughts are interrupted when he hears his cot creak loudly behind him. 

He looks over at Robin to see that she had flopped face down on his cot where she remained unmoving, save for the steady rise and fall of her chest that meant she was already unconscious. Chrom rolls his eyes fondly. He gets up to remove her boots and adjust her position so she’s lying more comfortably. He drapes his blanket over her before returning to his desk to stare at his draft.

The blank paper stares back.

… It was going to be a long night.

The sun was up, the birds were singing, and Chrom had burned through five candles, but at least he was satisfied with the neatly rewritten draft that lay proudly amidst scattered notes and crumpled paper.

He was just starting to tidy up when he hears a voice behind him.

“Hey, Blue, the Khans are looking for- woah…”

Chrom barely had the chance to look up before Gaius closes the distance between them and plucks the quill right from his hand to write in the middle of the card he pulled from inside his cloak. 

“Bingo.”

**Author's Note:**

> whoops, my hand slipped *spills some Chrobin on the work*


End file.
